Waking Up
by Lostbtvsfemslash
Summary: A/U of season three Buffy. Everyone's human. Follows the gang through Buffy and Willow getting together and surviving being kidnapped and tortured.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Waking Up

Author: Lost

Pairing: Buffy/Willow

Disclaimer: The characters? So not mine.

Rating: Mature

Author's Note: AU- all human.

Chapter One: Waking Up

Willow sighed as she looked out at the dance floor, watching the swaying crowd. _I'm not sure what to do? _It had been an awkward few weeks between her and Buffy. As if it wasn't enough that it would be awkward between the two best friends, it was awkward between Willow and Angel as well. They all used to be really good friends, and just that. Friends.

_Then he asks her out, and Bam! No more Buffy and Willow time. Not that we spent a ton of time hanging out just me and her before that anyway, but any time that we had had? Now it's virtually non-existent. And if I say anything she gets defensive, almost like she's mad at me or something. _Willow glanced at the couple as they danced. It had been a long night, and one song had turned into six as they continued to move to the music. _Goddess, she looks beautiful._ Willow thought to herself. _Wait, what am I thinking?!_ She shook her head as if to clear it for a minute before staring at the blonde again.

At first Willow assumed her snippiness towards the couple was simply jealousy over the feeling that she was losing her best friend, and then she accredited it to the fact that her best friend actually had someone. But now, now, she had changed her mind once again. She wasn't jealous at her lack of relationship, nor was she jealous of Buffy. She was jealous of Angel. _Gah, this is bad. A world of bad. She's my best friend, heck, not even just my best friend, but my best FEMALE friend! _

It had taken her nearly a week to finally admit it to herself; to admit that she was in love with Buffy, but once she did, her life seemed to be nothing but misery. _It's bad enough she doesn't want to spend any time with me, no; I had to go and fall in love with the girl who doesn't want to spend time with me. Smooth Rosenburg, way to go._ She sighed in frustration as she let her head fall down on her hands, and pushed her drink forward, almost knocking it over.

She grabbed a napkin and wiped up the little bit that had sloshed out of the cup. She stared at the condensation as it started to build up again on the soda, letting her thoughts wander. _Do I tell her? No, she'll freak. I'll ask Xander, he might have an idea what I should do._

"Hey, you ready to go?" Buffy asked, keeping a tight hold on Angel's hand. When Willow didn't respond she waved her hand in front of the hacker's face. "Earth to Willow, come in Willow."

"Huh? What? Sorry, I just zoned out for a second there, what did you say?" Willow looked startled that the object of her affections could have snuck up on her so easily, and blushed slightly when she began to chastise herself for not really paying attention the whole night.

"I said, are you about ready to go?" Buffy asked her again. Willow nodded and stood up. _Man, I wish that Xander and Cordy hadn't bailed on the Bronze tonight. Not too sure I want to walk home with the 'happy couple.' _She dropped the plastic cup in the trash and headed towards the exit.

Angel led Buffy along, and they followed the redhead out of the club and out into the night air. Willow saw the looks they were shooting one another, and tried to stay a little bit ahead of them, so as to keep them moving while still giving them some privacy. _Plus then I don't have to watch._ Mentally she cursed herself. _I should be back there. Buffy's gonna know something's up._ Even though she knew it would raise suspicion she couldn't force herself to be in the same vicinity as the mooney-eyed couple.

Once they arrived at the Summers' residence, Willow waited almost impatiently as Buffy and Angel kissed goodnight. She stood on the porch, facing away from them. _One, Two, Three, Oh come on. How long does it take to say goodbye? It's not like he won't see her tomorrow._ By the time they had finished Willow had given up the pretense of standing and had plopped rather ungracefully onto the steps to wait for Buffy to open the door.

"Goodnight. I love you." Buffy said to the jock.

He smiled slyly, "You too."

*******

Buffy walked slowly towards Willow, with her back towards the other girl as she kept her eyes on the retreating figure of her boyfriend. She turned once she reached the step, and then held out her hand for Willow to take. _Alright, time for girly talk, lets find out what's bugging Will._ A look of contemplation crossed the redhead's face before she stood up on her own. _Okay, she's gotta be way pissed at me to not even wanna let me help her up._ The blonde unlocked the door and let it swing open. She followed the redhead in.

"Hey Buff, if it's okay, I think I'll just crash out on the couch instead." Willow plopped down none too gracefully onto the couch, already unfolding the quilts that were resting there.

_She's been all bad moody for a week now, thought she might open up. Guess not. _ "Uhm, yeah, sure." Buffy paused, her eyes searching her best friend's for some clue as to what was happening to them; "I'll be upstairs if you need me."

Willow nodded; _I can't force her to tell me. I guess I can ask her in the morning._ Buffy headed up the stairs, glancing back down at the redhead who was pretending to be asleep. _Whatever's the matter, I wish she would just tell me. I miss my best friend. It's like she's been avoiding me all week._

Buffy lay on her bed for all of five minutes before she let sleep claim her, vowing that tomorrow she would find out what was wrong with Willow.

*******

It seemed as if she had just fallen asleep when Willow heard someone knocking on the door. She opened her sleep filled eyes, and looked down at her watch. _6 A.M.? Who would be here at six in the morning?_ She closed her eyes again as she resigned herself to the fate of opening the door. She lifted herself off of the ground and made her way groggily to the door. As she reached for the handle Buffy practically bounced down the stairs, and Willow turned around, heading back for her pile of blankets. _Okay, she wants to get the door, she can get it. I want sleep._

Angel leaned in for a kiss, "Hey, I brought you doughnuts and coffee." He said, holding up a white box and a few jars of starbucks.

"Aww, your so sweet." Buffy yawned out. "Just put it in the kitchen wouldja?" Angel nodded and left her standing in the foyer.

She walked over to the sleeping form of her best friend, and lay down next to the hacker. She spooned to her back, wrapping one arm lightly around the redhead. _What's she doing? Okay, stay still. She won't notice that I'm not asleep._ "What's goin' on in that head of yours?" The air tickled the back of the hacker's neck as Buffy whispered. _I have to tell her. Okay, I can do this. One,_ she concentrated hard on forcing herself to turn around, _Two, c'mon Willow, you can do it. Three._ She opened her eyes to see the retreating figures of her best friend and her boyfriend as they made their way up the stairs.

Willow pounded her head back down rather roughly onto the pillow before sighing in exasperation and asking herself, "What the hell am I going to do?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

She had been there for an hour, laying on the ground tossing and turning. _Okay, so sleeping? So not an option, it might help if I could stop thinking about having to tell her. Or not so much having to tell her, but how to do it? I mean, I don't want to tell her and have her freak on me. That would be not good. So, I'll tell her. I've got to. _

The thought reverberated through her head as she listened to her best friend, the love of her life, upstairs giggling while she fooled around with her boyfriend. Willow sighed as she sat there, unable to do anything other than listen to the joyful noises, and torture herself with thoughts of how she wasn't the one up there causing them.

She gripped her hands tightly together, and did her best to hold back tears. _Crying would be bad. How would I even begin to explain it if she walked in while I was crying? _She wanted nothing more at that moment in time than to cry. The thought of her best friend, kissing, hugging, laughing, and loving the boy upstairs did more to hurt her heart than anything she had ever known.

_I should leave. I mean, why sit here and torture myself by listening to them? Especially when all the giggling and happy noises do is make me picture it in my head. _Her stomach turned slightly at the image and she twisted her hands together tightly.

*******

Buffy and Angel were upstairs, playfully seeing who could mark who with hickeys, both of them having forgotten all about the doughnuts and the redhead down stairs. Well, not completely having forgotten; Buffy still remembered her, knew her name, scent, and love for the redhead, although she had forgotten that the redhead was present down stairs. However, she had not forgotten her vow to talk with her best friend about what was going on in that head of hers. She and Angel continued playing; neither hearing the door as it quietly clicked shut down stairs.

_Okay, I've gotta go. I can't just keep sitting down here waiting for one of them to remember that I exist. At least that way, maybe I can avoid the talk with Buffy. _Willow looked around the kitchen for a writing pad. _I'll just leave her a note, that way Buffy can't assume I left because something was wrong or that I'm upset with her. That would be bad. I'm not mad at her. I know that, it's just… I'm not sure exactly how I'm supposed to react around her anymore. Until I can figure that out I really don't think I should be spending mass quantities of time around her. _

_If I write, 'Dear Buffy' well, it sounds formal. And wrong. 'Hey Buffy' isn't right either. Okay, then no greeting. Just her name. _

Buffy-

I'm gonna go home, call me if you want to hang out or something-

:heart: Willow

Satisfied the note wasn't something that could be taken in the wrong light, she left it there on top of the doughnut box before she peaked in. _Ohhh, sprinkles. _'She thought as she grabbed the sprinkled one. Neither Buffy nor Angel liked sprinkles, so it was safe to assume that that doughnut had been bought with her in mind. She sniffled as she walked out the door. She started her short trek home with the doughnut in her hand and tears threatening to spill over.

*******

Buffy glanced around her room, doing one last quick glance over her outfit in the mirror before choosing the right shoes. _Alright, first things first. Check in with Will. Then make sure she's okay. After that, Angel Time. _She smiled happily at the thought and zipped up her boots. _Hopefully the thing with Willow doesn't take too long. Not that she's not great; but, Angel Time is always a good. _

She stood, straightened her clothes, taking one more look over her reflection before starting towards her bedroom door. _Willow Time is good too. I haven't had much of that lately, and I've definitely been missing it. It's just that every time I try to be around her if it's just me and her, she wigs. And I don't know what it is that she's wigging over either. I tried asking Xander, but he seemed as clueless as me. Maybe today she'll talk. _

She bounced down the stairs and called out, "Angel, you ready?" _Maybe I should try just me and her again. She seems to clam up even more when he's around. I could tell him it's a girly thing. He'd understand. _She pouted as she pondered the idea and her internal voice whined, _but, Angel Time. I want that, too. Gah, I really hate that she's changed so much since we started dating. Maybe she has a crush on him; that would make sense. Plus explain the uncomfy-ness that is one on one girly time. _

Angel held the door open. "Ready when you are." He smiled broadly at her and she couldn't help but smile back. _That's gotta be it. He's too cute for it to be anything else. _

Her boyfriend grabbed her hand as they made their way down the walkway. He didn't try to start up a conversation, just walked silently beside her. _Mkay, best approach to get rid of pouty Willow. Regardless of how cute she is. Wait, cute? She's not Cute cute. Is she? Well maybe she is, but not to me, right? Okay brain, shut up. Let's just focus. Fix best friend, then focus on boyfriend. Think arms. Strong muscley arms. _

As the walk continued, Buffy tried harder and harder to stop her wandering thoughts from landing on the cuteness of her best friend.

*******

Willow sat at her computer, writing some truly love felt poetry. She read, then re-read the poem before deciding that she wanted it to be called "I wanna be your Reason". _Oh God, I sound emo. _After having titled the poem, she shut her laptop, and started downstairs. _I'll just watch a movie. Any movie to take my mind off of this stupid crush. And veg out, that might help. _

She put in "Gia" and sat down with a half carton of ice cream. _That's right, what better way to take my mind off of my depressing life than watching someone else's more depressing life. _

Ten minutes in there was a knock at her door. She glanced through the peephole and opened the door with a sigh.

She musterd up the cheeriest smile she could, although it never really reached her eyes. "Hey." She opened the door more and stood back so they could enter before resuming her seat on the couch, letting her eyes get glued to the screen once again, momentarily forgetting her problems.

_Wonder if she realizes I can feel her staring at me? It's kind of unnerving actually. Maybe this movie will get the point across some. _She glanced over and saw Buffy pull Angel down on the couch next to her. After a while, a light blush crept up on the blonde's cheeks. _Ha, she got it. We're watching a gay movie Buffy. Yup, its gay. _

Willow smiled slightly in triumph to herself the rest of the way through the movie. _She might get the point. _

As the movie ended, Buffy chuckled slightly, "So Will, anything you wanna tell us?" _Hmm, I'm gay and have a major thing for you? Nah, that would just totally ruin the mood. Play it cool, Rosenburg. _

Willow made her expression completely clueless, and looked at Buffy. "No, why?" She stood up and left the couple in the living room, heading towards the kitchen. _If that doesn't make her raise an eyebrow and seriously think about everything that's been going on, well. I'm not gonna spell it out for her. She has a brain. She knows how to use it. Theoretically. _

*******

Buffy watched the redhead leave the room, her expression having turned slightly sour before she was out of sight. _Okay, it's now or never Summers. Go and talk to her. Figure out what's going on. Don't let things fester. _She stood up, and followed the redhead towards the kitchen. Quickly saying over her shoulder, "Be right back."

"Hey Willow, I need to talk to you about something." Willow glanced at her. Then at Angel who was still seated on the couch. _She still has that expression she put on when I joked with her earlier, the 'I'm so clueless I've got no idea what you could possibly be insinuating.' Look. _

As Buffy watched, her face changed, looking overly confident. "Okay, shoot."

_What time is it? Three? _"Well, now's not really the time...how about later?"

"Yeah, I guess."

Angel's cell phone rang, and he answered and began speaking to the voice on the other line as the two girls stared at each other. He hung up and walked into the kitchen and leaned over, giving Buffy a kiss and successfully breaking the eye contact the girls had going.

"Mhhh, no work tonight. That was my boss, said they don't need me to come in today it's been so slow." He said as he pulled his lips away from his girlfriend's.

"Cool. Maybe we could go out?" She asked, looking at both Willow and Angel. _Group activity. That'd be nice. Plus I'm sure we'll run into some of his friends, I'll have a couple of minutes alone to talk to her eventually. _

"Sure, wherever you want to go." He said as he kissed her again.

Buffy smiled happily, "Good, well...we'll pick you up at around eight Will?" _Why does she look like she's gonna cry? _

Willow glanced down at her shoes, studying them intently before answering. "Uhm, I think I'm gonna pass, I have some uhm...homework to do."

Angel nodded. "That's cool, maybe we can get Xander and Cordy to come with." _What? She's gotta come with us, otherwise I'm never gonna get to talk to her about what the hell is going on! She's not gonna make this easy, and its not like I can just blow Angel off to spend time with her. Gah. _Buffy sighed in frustration as she started to follow her boyfriend towards the door.

He got to the end of the walkway where it met the sidewalk and turned towards her expectantly. _Dammit. _"Gimme just a second." He nodded and stood patiently waiting.

Buffy walked up to the shut front door and tested the handle. Sobs echoed through the small opening. I should leave her alone. _She'll talk to me about it when she's ready. Or should I do the comforting thing? I don't think she'd want me to see her crying. _

She pulled back and scrunched her face in concern, _I'll leave her alone. Then tonight after the Bronze, I'll come over and talk. We'll do the girly best friend thing, and hopefully she'll tell me what's bothering her. _She walked quickly back down the sidewalk and grabbed onto Angel's hand. _It'll work itself out. _


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

_Moping. Great. Just what I need. More moping._Willow lay down on her bed, watching the ceiling fan rotating above her as it circulates the air slowly throughout her room. _What do I do? Just pretend its not there 'til it goes away? Or avoid? I could always avoid. Either way she won't know. Not that she wants to know, but she can't. She's happy with Angel. If I really care about her that's what I want right? For her to be happy? So then that's what I'll do. Nothing._She silently resigned herself to the fate of solitude. Tons of possibilities ran through her brain, but they all seemed overly dramatic. _I just can't be around her. It's too hard._

She mumbled under her breath as shapes flitted across her vision. _Yeah, there we go, Rosenburg. That's the way to solve all my problems. Avoid her. Then I really won't have any friends. Well, besides Xander. And Cordy. But I really think she's just a friend because she has to be._She rolled over onto her side. "What am I gonna do?"

In the background, a song began to slowly play from her stereo.

_It's like you're a drug It's like you're a demon I cant face down It's like I'm stuck It's like I'm running from you all the time_

She let the lyrics roll over her, listening to the soothing voice of the girl singing, and before she knew what was happening, the tears had begun to flow. A slow chill ran down her body as she curled in herself. Almost as if it was her body's natural reaction to protect itself from physical harm, even though the only harm it seemed to be coming into was mental.

She cried for quite a while, so long that the radio station had begun to play only dance hits as is so common in stations in the later evening and earlier mornings. She cried for the fact that her best friend would never see her that way; for the fact that, no matter how much she wanted it, she knew that if she told Buffy, their friendship would change. And probably not for the best.

_So I won't tell her. At all. I can't not be around her. It just wouldn't feel right. But I can pretend that I don't have anything other than friendly feelings for her. Heck, I can even pretend I'm not gay. That way she won't have to be all uncomfy around me. It'll be my secret._

*******

As soon as Angel had said he wanted to go and see the midnight movie, Buffy knew exactly what he had in mind. _He just wants to make out. Possibly grope. Not that I'm complaining, but hey, it might be nice to actually get to watch a movie that I paid for, for once._The theatre was showing "A Clockwork Orange," and Buffy had never heard of, nor had any desire to actually see the movie. She had just shrugged and nodded her acceptance when Angel had suggested it. They made it ten minutes into the movie before Angel grew bored and proceeded to kiss her. _I guess I should be paying attention to either the movie or him. But well, I can't stop thinking about Willow. And thinking about her while he's kissing me? Or thinking about her when anything involving kissing is happening? Not a good idea. What would it be like to kiss her? She'd probably be a lot softer than he is, not so rough, hell maybe even a little tentative. Wait, bad thoughts. Get it together Summers, pay attention to your boyfriend, quit fantasizing about your best friend. Wait was I really just fantasizing?_

Exiting the theatre, Angel began to walk Buffy towards her house, when she suddenly changed the directions. He looked at her questioningly.

She turned his wrist so she could read his watch. "I need to go and talk to Will." _And never ever bring up any of the fantasies. Ever._

"Yeah, what's been up with her lately? She's been all...avoidy." He said, sounding proud of himself for realizing something was wrong with their redheaded friend.

Buffy looked at him for a minute. _Sometimes he can be so dense it isn't even funny. Probably took a few too many hits to the head in practice._"Uhm, I dunno, that's what I was gonna go and talk to her about." She looked up to realize they were about two houses away from Willow's.

He glanced at her and asked, "Okay, well, good luck. Do you want me to come too?"

"Uhm, no, thanks, I think I wanna handle this one on my own." She leaned in and placed a chaste kiss on his cheek. _Trying to have a regular conversation with her is gonna be hard enough. Naughty best friend thoughts are not of the good, especially with the boyfriend in the room._She sighed softly. "I'll call you whenever we get up, okay?" _Otherwise we're going to have a repeat of this morning. And this isn't my house. Somehow I don't think the Rosenburgs would appreciate being woken up at six._

He nodded slightly. "Alright, goodnight."

She turned her back to him and walked over to the French doors of the other girl's bedroom. _Hope it's not too late._She looked back to see that Angel had continued his walk towards his house. She held her breath as she reached down and lightly twisted the door handle, praying that it would be unlocked. A triumphant smile graced her features as the door swung silently open and she crept into the nearly pitch black room.

The only source of illumination in the room was coming from the laptop that was resting next to the sleeping redhead. Buffy shrugged and moved it to the desk before she sat down on the bed next to her best friend.

She sat there studying Willow for the first time in what seemed like forever. _She looks so peaceful when she sleeps. Except for the tear tracks. I wish she would tell me what's the matter wrong, seeing her upset like this just makes me want to hold her tight and protect her. But I can't. It's not acceptable, plus she would probably freak._She reached down and tenderly tucked a stray hair behind the sleeping redhead's ear, lightly caressing her cheek in the process.

*******

Willow sleepily sobbed, "Oh Buffy. No, no, I'm sorry!" She jerked awake. _It was just a dream. Nothing else. She's not freaking out over you being in love with her. Would she really freak anyway? No, wait. I had decided. Not telling._She mentally threw away the key to that little secret box in her mind and a few stray tears ran down her cheeks. _No, no more crying. I should be dehydrated. That means no more tears._

A hand soothingly rubbed her back and she froze. _I'm still dreaming. That's it. Still asleep... at least I think I'm still asleep._She turned to face the blonde. "What are you doing here? Am I dreaming?" _Of course I'm dreaming. Buffy would never blow off a night with Angel to come and hang out with me._

The blonde smiled comfortingly and leaned down to wrap her arms around Willow. _Yup, this confirms it. Dreaming_. "No, you're not dreaming. I just wanted to come and see what's the matter."

_She says it's not a dream. Pfft. How many times have my dream Buffy's told me that?_"Oh." She pulled back and stared down at the bed sheet.

"C'mon Will, you can tell me; what's up?" _Dream, it's all just a dream._She leaned in and captured the surprised blonde's lips, applying just a slight bit of pressure. Her eyes popped open. _Oh crap. This isn't a dream._


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Willow sighed as she stared at the uncompleted homework. _Twenty minutes to get to school and it still isn't finished. It's a good thing I did most of the work early, but still. I've gotta concentrate and actually finish. _Her mind was nothing but a jumbled jigsaw over everything that had happened the night before. She had kissed Buffy. The one person she'd been thinking of constantly for the last two weeks. _I was so sure that she wasn't real. That I was still asleep. That when she kissed me back... I knew that it was real._ The blonde had bolted the second that she had pulled back, quickly yanking open the door and taking off into the darkness of the early Monday morning.

_And I just sat there. Watching the door. Waiting for her to come back. But she won't. Heck, I'd be surprised if she even speaks to me ever again. I can't believe I did that. Well, I can. I thought she wasn't real, but still. How do I explain that to her? 'Oh sorry I kissed you Buff, thought you were a part of this reoccurring dream.' Yeah, that'll go over real well. _She sighed again and squinted down at the swimming numbers, rubbing her eyes after a moment in a vain attempt to clear them. _It's all happening too fast. First it's the three of us. Then they start dating. Then Bam! Jealous Willow. I'm never Jealous Willow. And the worst part of it all is that it isn't towards Buffy. It's towards Angel. I mean, we were never great friends, but at least I didn't hate him. _For a moment, she let her thoughts wander back to a time when they were all younger; before things had gotten so complicated. Her cheeks burned as anger towards the football player welled up inside of her.

_I've gotta concentrate. There's no way I'll finish this worksheet before school. _She glanced back at the clock in her kitchen and stood up quickly, placing the sheet neatly into a binder and then into her backpack. _Ten minutes to get to school before the first bell rings. That leaves plenty of time to talk to Xander. I'm not sure what to do, but I need someone else's opinion. It might help. _She mentally shrugged and locked the front door, hurrying down the sidewalk towards the school.

*******

Buffy slowly gained consciousness, her mind wandering over the events of the night before. _She kissed me. Not that I minded, hell, I even kissed her back. It was so completely different from kissing Angel. _Her stomach clenched at the thought of her boyfriend. _Is he even what I want anymore? Was he ever what I wanted? He keeps pushing, trying to get the relationship to move further along, and I don't think that's something I'm up for. At least not with him. Everything is so muddled. All of the neat little lines that separated my friends from my love life seem to have disappeared lately. I know that I love her. But do I love her the way that she's into me? And how do I even ask. I can't fall back on the 'Hey, I've got a thing, you maybe have a thing, maybe we could have a thing. How do you feel about Mexican?' I already know how she feels about Mexican. _She sighed and ran her hand sleepily through her hair and sat up. _Great. Monday morning school, just what I need to help clear my head. _

She grumbled under her breath and went about her morning routine. _What the hell am I supposed to do? Probably shouldn't have bolted like that, but, well, what would an appropriate reaction have been? I was kind of speechless and her listening to me groan out incoherent vowel sounds probably wouldn't have been the best conversation in the history of conversations. Plus then there would be the whole, having to explain it to Angel thing. It's not his business. Or is it? I am dating him, but I'd rather not be. If I had just stuck with the whole being honest with myself thing when he asked me out and turned him down, I wouldn't be in the mess I am now. But that might've hurt his ego. My being gay. Wait, am I gay? And as horrible as it is to admit it, when he asked, I just didn't want to be alone anymore. Pining over a straight girl isn't the healthiest thing I could do. But that's what she's been doing isn't it? Gah, I'm so confused._

She threw some clothes that seemed to match well enough on and headed down the stairs and out the door. _Before I talk to either of them, I've gotta decide what I really want. Less hurt people is always good. If there's any way I can avoid hurting them both then I'm definitely for them. I just hope that I can figure it out. _

*******

Angel smiled as he walked towards his team mates, high-fiving each of them in turn.

"Andrews! Two weeks man!" Larry slammed a hand down on Angel's shoulder and smiled broadly. "There's still time to back outta the bet, ya know."

Angel smiled sadistically, "Oh, and let you have the satisfaction of rubbing it in my face? Don't think so. I've still got two weeks. Like you said,. I can get in her pants in two weeks." He shook his hand at the cacophony of noise going on around him. "Still warming her up. She'll be putty in my hands, you watch."

Larry smiled back at him. "Yeah, sure man, whatever you say. Just don't forget, loser has to do locker room cleanup for a month."

"Oh, I haven't forgotten." _Just gotta figure out how to get her mind off of the redhead. _His expression darkened slightly before he glanced up and saw the blonde walking towards him. He pasted a look of puppy love on his face before saying, "Gotta go."

He leaned down to hug her when out of nowhere she started kissing him like there was no tomorrow. _Huh, not the usual greeting, especially not for school. But I'm taking it as a good sign. _He was more than willing to return the passion she seemed to be funneling into the embrace. When it ended he leaned his forehead against hers so he could stare what he hoped was deeply into her eyes. "Morning."

"Morning." She replied distractedly. _She looks like she's somewhere else. _His eyes narrowed menacingly before he glanced quickly away to regain his composure. _I'll get her ._

*******

Arriving at school with plenty of time to spare, Willow glanced around the courtyard before making her way to the library. _I still can't believe he hangs out in here before school. I mean, I know that I'm a nerd and it's expected of me to spend a lot of time in the library. But he's Xander. He's not a book guy. I think the only reason why he hangs out here is to look at the naked paintings in the arts section. _The doors swung open and she pushed her way through them and sat down at the sturdy looking wooden table. As the sound of the chair scraping across the floor echoed throughout the stacks, Xander's head popped out.

He smiled brightly at her and asked, "What's up?"

She smiled back at him tightly before nodding her head and answering. _Hope he doesn't freak on me. He shouldn't though. He knows about the thing I have for her. Heck, he even shares my thing. _"Uhm, not a lot. I-kissed-Buffy." _And this is me, Willow Rosenburg, the amazing sunburned tomato. _Her cheeks flushed heavily and she dropped her gaze to her fidgeting hands.

"You did? Way to go Willow! Score one for our side!" He triumphantly pumped his fist into the air. He looked at her again, his smile dropping slightly before asking quietly, "So, how'd she take it?"

*******

The entire walk to school she had been trying to devise a way to choose. _I'm not even sure if Will feels that way about me. But, if she even just might, it's worth a shot. At least I think it might be. _She grinned slightly at the sight of Angel. Here goes nothin'. She leaned into his hug and did her best to pour passion into the kiss. _All I need is that feeling, the tingly feeling. I got it when I kissed Will, and that was just a peck. So, full out kissing him, I should get more than a tingly. Right? _

Angel stared soulfully into her eyes, but all she could do was think about comparing the two kisses. "Morning."

"Morning." She responded distractedly. _Well then where's the tingly? I didn't even get a dull throb. I mean, he kisses nicely… but he doesn't affect me the same. I should care that it's not that same. That she makes me feel this way and he doesn't. But I don't. _

His brow scrunched in concern as he asked, "what's up with you?" He took her hand and they began to walk down the hall, passing students who were gathered before class. _Well, that's the sign I wanted. The way to choose. _

She only shrugged in response and glanced at his face for a minute, then averted her eyes. She looked all around them at the students gathering for class, and then dropped his hand. "Listen, Angel...I ...Well, we need to talk."

*******

_History, at least my homework for this class is finished. _Willow slumped slightly in her chair and pulled out her black pen to make notes with. Buffy was sitting directly to her left, and Xander was two rows away on her right. Angel sat at the very front of the class. _Don't look at her. Don't look at her. _She kept repeating the same thing over and over in her mind, so much so that she couldn't even concentrate enough to take notes. Tears welled up in her eyes again, and she willed herself not to cry.

A small folded note slid onto her desk from the left, and she stared at it for a moment. Then slid it discretely under her binder, and focused her eyes back on the white board. _I'll read it later. No sense in getting caught. Plus it could be really bad. _She sighed and did her best to copy down the timeline that her teacher put up. _It's gonna be a long day. _


End file.
